Voting-related measures on November ballots include a voter ID push targeting mail-in ballots

Advocates for greater voter identification requirements are pursuing a new approach in some states: a mandate to place driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers on mail-in ballots. Variations of the voter ID proposals are being decided in the midterm elections in California, Colorado and Nevada — three states where conservative activists collected petition signatures to bypass Democratic-led legislatures and place the issue directly before voters. The voter ID measures are among about 30 questions on November ballots affecting state policies on voting and elections.

They account for roughly 1 in 5 of all state ballot measures nationwide. Some mirror policies that President Donald Trump has pushed unsuccessfully at the national level and build off a Republican narrative that noncitizen voting is a problem, though data indicates it is rare. Several measures address changes to congressional voting districts, as part of a national redistricting battle spurred by Trump.

Others could change the way primaries are conducted, make it more difficult for voters to amend their state constitutions or — in Missouri — make it harder for lawmakers to change measures that voters approve. Taken together, the measures highlight a long-running debate about who can participate in elections and how to ensure voting is both accessible and secure. “Ballot measures have become a battle zone for the future of American democracy, including direct democracy itself,” said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a group that backs progressive ballot issues.

California proposition is one of several voter ID measures When voting by mail, most states already require a voter’s signature for a ballot to count. Only Georgia, Minnesota, New Mexico and Ohio require some sort of government-issued identification number to be included with mail-in ballots. California’s Proposition 39 would require a government-issued ID to vote in person or the last four digits of that identification number to vote by mail.

In the August primary, nearly 90% of California’s ballots were cast by mail, and more than 52,000 ballots — less than 1% of the total — were rejected for nonmatching or missing signatures, according to the secretary of state’s office. The proposed constitutional amendment doesn’t directly repeal California’s current signature require…